The Art of a Moist Christmas Rum Cake

 Train Bundt Cake Pan

My gift during the Christmas season are rum cakes to family, friends, and co-workers, and now to you. I have no secrets, so here is the recipe:

Ingredients: 1 box of yellow cake mix, 1 box of vanilla jello pudding, 1/2 stick of butter, rum (preferably Meyer's Dark Rum), Pam, 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar), 4 eggs, 1/3 cup corn oil, 1/3 cup water, and candy (optional.)

Equipment needed: Mixing bowl, egg beater, bundt pan, sauce pan or small pot

Instructions: Empty the box of yellow cake mix and the box of vanilla jello pudding in a mixing bowl, add in the four large eggs, 1/3 cup of water, 1/3 cup of rum, and 1/3 cup corn oil. Beat with the egg beater until the batter turns to a thick consistency with no lumps. Spray the pan with Pam on non-stick oil spray. Pour the batter into the bundt pan and set into oven and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. If using a shallow pan, then bake for 35 minutes.

For the glaze, pour 1/2 cup of rum into a sauce pan and heat until it bubbles, lower the heat and throw in 1/2 stick of butter (cubed). As the butter melts, add in confectioner's sugar slowly and stir until it is all melted.

Let the bundt cake cool too the touch and poke holes at the top of the cake with a fork. The top of the cake will eventually be the bottom once it is emptied out of the pan. Turn the pan over and place the cake on a flat dish and drizzle the glaze over the entire cake. Of course you can adjust the rum in the glaze to your taste! Decorate with candy if you prefer. Merry Christmas!

My Pans

Slow Art Friday

Slow Art Friday

 

The ARTS at Marks Garage

The Arts at Marks Garage is a gem for Honolulu's Chinatown art scene. Located in the heart of downtown, it is the pulse for promoting upcoming and well known local artists. As a non-profit gallery, it has been the leading advocate for culture and the arts, and for the revitalization of Chinatown. The quality of the artwork in Honolulu has improved tremendously over the last decade and a major contributing factor is Marks Garage. They continue to focus on showing the work from Honolulu's local artists. Other galleries that have emerged have also supported this art movement.

Tomorrow evening is Slow Art Friday and Marks Garage is featuring local glass artists for it's exhibition. The public is invited for a fun art walk through downtown Honolulu where unique artwork can be purchased as one of a kind Christmas gifts.

Sculptures by Angelica Reyes

Japanese Bookbinding as a Christmas Gift Idea

Scratch Booklet

With a little innovation and some persistence, I put together a scratch booklet using cardboard from a box, a couple of paper bags with Christmas print on them, and some computer paper that was printed on one side but not the other. It is my of eliminating used paper without being wasteful. This idea came from making an old fashioned photo album that uses sticky triangle corners to hold photos, for a needy family after I did a photo shoot for them. The above is a prototype and I didn't take the time to measure the holes in the spine so the string is a bit crooked. This is a fun project and great conversation piece to pass out for Christmas or for no reason at all.

The spine of the booklet

 

 Inside

Holiday Palm Tree

It was two years ago that I was challenged to make a Christmas tree using existing materials that would cost me nothing out of pocket. Observing various palms trees in Hawaii, an inspirational thought of making a Christmas palm tree transpired. Having no idea how this tree would materialize and where to start, I was unattached and open-minded. The only thing that was a must was the fresh scent of pine. The process was self guided and it would become a freestyle art project. Limited by space of a tiny apartment, size did matter. By gathering free Christmas tree trimmings from a local Home Depot for starters, the design was clear, the branches would serve as palm leaves. As for the tree's trunk, there was string, there was glue, and there was a mess. There was a vase, a pvc pipe, and a Christmas tree stand. This magnificent tree was assembled top down on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in 2008 and it continues to be the Christmas palm tree that we enjoy in 2010.

To see more images, click here.